Clearance Rate Rises At Magics

[Wandering Eyes]

After opening with a clearance rate of just 62.4% on Tuesday, Wednesday’s second session of the Magic Millions National Yearling Sale saw a higher number of youngsters sold, and that figure grew to 71%, albeit still down on last year’s 76% clearance rate for the two-day Book 1. The average, at A$43,172, was down 15.3%, while the median stayed steady at A$30,000. A total of A$9,929,500 was traded during Book 1 on 230 yearlings.

“Today’s sale had a much better vibe to it with the clearance rate increasing to some 71%,” Magic Millions Managing Director Barry Bowditch said. “Albeit, we’re still disappointed with how the clearance finished up.”

“For the right yearling this sale is a viable option and we have great faith in this sale going forward. We will look at the structure of the sale and whether it needs fine tuning. The market here was very strong yet selective on the product on offer.”

“There’s great opportunities tomorrow with Book 2 yearlings followed by a quality packed racehorse sale, and it will bring to a close a memorable three weeks of trade,” Bowditch said.

Wednesday’s highest-priced lot, and the co-top lot of the sale, was a colt by New Zealand-based sire Tavistock (NZ) (lot 1900) from Amarina Farm who was knocked down to Jason Abrahams of Champion Thoroughbreds for A$250,000. The bay is the second foal out of the Echo Of Light (GB) mare Lithograph, who is herself a daughter of the Australian listed winner Forum Floozie (Aus) (Danasinga {Aus}) and a half-sister to the French stakes winner Lawspeaker (Fr) (Singspiel {Ire}). Forum Floozie is a half-sister to Australian champion Starcraft (NZ) (Soviet Star).

The colt will go to trainer John O’Shea, and Abrahams said he and O’Shea had seen him early on in New Zealand.

“We really liked the colt when we first saw him in New Zealand and then we noticed he was in this sale,” he said. “We flew up to have a look at him among the others and he had really come on well in those six months.”

“He doesn’t really look an out-and-out stayer,” Abrahams noted. “He looks more a miler, like Starcraft who is in the pedigree. He’s full of quality with a good female line. He’s big and strong and has a deep and strong hip and hindquarter.”

“We knew there would be a bit of competition on him but he was the only one we really wanted and I know John is excited about getting him to train,” Abrahams added.

The highest-priced filly of the day-and of the sale-was Highgrove Stud’s daughter of Fastnet Rock (Aus) (lot 2077) picked up by John Crowley of Chevaux Bloodstock for A$245,000. Chevaux also bought Tuesday’s top seller, a A$250,000 Exceed and Excel (Aus) colt, and he said both could return to this ring for the Magic Millions 2YOs in Training Sale in October.

“She’s a beautiful filly with great residual value,” Crowley said. “She’s got almost that value as a broodmare I think. We will take her home now and break her in as soon as possible and we may even put her through the 2-year-old sale. She’s probably not an early runner and she’s by Fastnet Rock, but she could be, he’s had a few this year that have raced well in the early 2-year-old races.”

That residual value stems from the fact that the filly is already a sister to three black-type horses; she is a full-sister to the G2 Champagne Classic-third Global Dream (Aus), and a three-quarter sister to the G2 Wakeful S.-second Maraatib (Aus) (Redoute’s Choice {Aus}) and the listed-placed Valoura (Aus) (Exceed and Excel {Aus}). The second dam is the smart producer Valourina (Aus) (Snippets {Aus}).

Chevaux Bloodstock was the leading buyer of Book 1 yearlings, with five purchased for A$659,500. Yu Long Investments also continued its spending spree at this sale; Yuesheng Zhang’s stable bought five yearlings for A$580,000, pushing its haul for the entire National Sale series to 51 horses.

Newgate Farm’s Dissident was the standout first-crop yearling sire on Wednesday, with a colt from Element Hill making A$160,000 to Jason Tam and trainer Gary Moore, while Queensland darling Spirit of Boom (Aus) had two of the top 10.

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